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open space close to a clump of acacias, and we had advanced to within several
yards of our kill when we both halted suddenly and simultaneously. Whitely
looked at me, and I looked at Whitely, and then we both looked back in the
direction of the deer.
"Blime!" he said. "Wot is hit, sir?"
"
It looks to me, Whitely, like an error," I said; "some assistant god who had been
creating elephants must have been temporarily transferred to the lizard-
department."
"
"
Hi wouldn't s'y that, sir," said Whitely; "it sounds blasphemous."
It is no more blasphemous than that thing which is swiping our meat," I replied,
for whatever the thing was, it had leaped upon our deer and was devouring it in
great mouthfuls which it swallowed without mastication. The creature appeared
to be a great lizard at least ten feet high, with a huge, powerful tail as long as its
torso, mighty hind legs and short forelegs. When it had advanced from the wood,
it hopped much after the fashion of a kangaroo, using its hind feet and tail to
propel it, and when it stood erect, it sat upon its tail. Its head was long and
thick, with a blunt muzzle, and the opening of the jaws ran back to a point
behind the eyes, and the jaws were armed with long sharp teeth. The scaly body
was covered with black and yellow spots about a foot in diameter and irregular in
contour. These spots were outlined in red with edgings about an inch wide. The
underside of the chest, body and tail were a greenish white.
"
Wot s'y we pot the bloomin' bird, sir?" suggested Whitely.
I told him to wait until I gave the word; then we would fire simultaneously, he at
the heart and I at the spine.
"Hat the 'eart, sir--yes, sir," he replied, and raised his piece to his shoulder.
Our shots rang out together. The thing raised its head and looked about until its
eyes rested upon us; then it gave vent to a most appalling hiss that rose to the
crescendo of a terrific shriek and came for us.
"Beat it, Whitely!" I cried as I turned to run.
We were about a quarter of a mile from the rest of our party, and in full sight of
them as they lay in the tall grass watching us. That they saw all that had
happened was evidenced by the fact that they now rose and ran toward us, and
at their head leaped Nobs. The creature in our rear was gaining on us rapidly
when Nobs flew past me like a meteor and rushed straight for the frightful reptile.
I tried to recall him, but he would pay no attention to me, and as I couldn't see
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